La Brea (Talara) (Pleistocene of Peru)

Where: Piura, Peru (4.7° S, 81.1° W: paleocoordinates 4.7° S, 81.1° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Late/Upper Pleistocene (0.1 - 0.0 Ma)

Environment/lithology: tar; lithified, sandy lithology not reported

• La Brea tar pits

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: original phosphate

Collected by expedition from the division of zoology and palaeontology of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto in January,February 1958

Primary reference: C. S. Churcher. 1959. Fossil Canis from the Tar Pits of La Brea, Peru. Science 130(3375):564-565 [C. Jaramillo/J. Ceballos/A. Cardenas ]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 144976: authorized by Carlos Jaramillo, entered by Juliana Ceballos on 24.05.2013, edited by Andrés Cárdenas

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• An examination of the material developed from the matrix during the first 6 months and referable to the Canidae shows that there were at least two canids present namely, a large wolflike form and a small foxlike form. The latter is comparatively rare, but seems to resemble Dusicyon (Lycalopex) in its cranial characteristics.

•The conclusion resulting from this first investigation is that a large wolf-like creature existed in the Pleistocene of Peru and that this creature belongs within the genus Canis and is closely related to C. dirus of the Californian Pleistocene tar pits. Until further material has been developed from the matrix it is too early to state definitely whether it is identical with C. dirus or not, and it is proposed for the present to refrain from giving the Peruvian wolf a separate name, since its synonymity with C. dirus is a distinct possibility.

Show authors, comments, and common names
Mammalia
 Proboscidea - Gomphotheriidae
"Haplomastodon sp." = Notiomastodon
"Haplomastodon sp." = Notiomastodon Cabrera 1929 gomphothere
 Megatherioidea - Megatheriidae
Eremotherium sp.
Eremotherium sp. Spillmann 1948 edentate
 Cingulata - Pampatheriidae
Chlamytherium sp.
Chlamytherium sp. Lund 1838 edentate
 Carnivora - Felidae
Smilodon sp., "Felis atrox" = Panthera leo atrox
Smilodon sp. Lund 1841 saber-toothed cat
"Felis atrox" = Panthera leo atrox Leidy 1853 lion
 Carnivora - Canidae
"Canis cf. dirus" = Aenocyon dirus, cf. Dusicyon (Lycalopex) sp.
"Canis cf. dirus" = Aenocyon dirus Leidy 1858 dire wolf
cf. Dusicyon (Lycalopex) sp. Hamilton Smith 1839 Falkland Island wolf
 Artiodactyla - Camelidae
Palaeolama sp.
Palaeolama sp. Gervais 1869 camel
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
Odocoileus sp.
Odocoileus sp. Rafinesque 1832 New World deer
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
Equus sp.
Equus sp. Linnaeus 1758 horse